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Foreword
This section appeared in the Manifesto v0.8 as part of the Introduction and Vision with the following other sections: * Foreword by the author (Wolfgang Simson) * Your question determines the answers * Why this book? * The Tale of the Mosquito Net This book is born both out of vision and agony; the vision that God will yes, achieve his eternal plans of salvation with mankind “as it is written”; and the bewildering pain I feel in my heart about a fragmented, weak, battered and disobedient church that, if it does not revolutionarily change, simply will not reach its destiny. Ten years ago, in 1996, I felt I needed to start preaching, teaching, and writing about an imminent reformation, that starts by the return of house churches as a new, but actually age-old format of Ekklesia. Since the book “Houses That Change The World” came out and was translated into nearly 20 languages, we have had a never ending stream of visitors to our house telling us we were expressing something that they had felt in their spirit loud and clear, something unspeakable they somehow felt was put into words by that book. Since then, more than 300,000 new house churches have been born around the world, and it looks like it is only the beginning. In 2001, God had asked my wife and me to quit completely Church-as-we-know-it (hereinafter CAWKI) and even MAWKI – missions-as-we- know-it, and to go into an unknown future. We felt lost, vulnerable, insecure, and alone. But after some years, God started to speak to us about a continuation of this reformation through the rediscovery of healthy apostolic and prophetic ministries that had gone through God’s mill – not proud, triumphant, presentable and strong people and their ministries, but weak, crucified, no-name, faceless, and dead people, unimpressive folks. In short, God showed us how the meek shall inherit the earth. This is probably the last book I will write on the issue of Ekklesia, and in many ways, this is the Big Brother of my former book on house churches (ed: Houses that Change the World). I have three specific groups of people in mind for who this book was written: 1) There are many who have grown up in traditional churches or missions who feel excited in their spirit, knowing that what they have experienced and seen in Christianity so far cannot be “it;” there must be more. Through all sorts of means they have been thrown into a search-mode, looking for something else, something that goes beyond their past experience and brings them into a closer relationship with God and what it truly means to be the church. This book is for them, as I think I have really good news for those like me, those growing up in old wineskins. 2) I see an army of young people rising up today and asking new kinds of questions. They (OK: some!) are passionately in love with Jesus, but strangely at odds with the Church. They are looking for a cause, a dangerous mission, something worth risking their lives for. If this is you, then I have good news for you, too. It may feel a bit like Neo in the film “The Matrix,” being rescued into the community of Zion onto the ship of Morpheus. As Neo woke up and shook his head, this is what he heard: “The answers are coming!” So hang in there. 3) There are those who are coming to Christ today completely outside traditional church systems. Are you from a Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Indian, Jewish, New Age, or completely agnostic background and looking for a church that is unlike the church? For a liberating place under the shadow of God where your brothers and sisters would wish to be, too? Then I have good news for you. The western kind of church that you have visited, read about, or seen advertised on TV, is not the real thing. Jesus was an Asian. And the kind of Church he started is much closer to your heart and culture than you probably thought possible. Finally, if you feel safe and comfortable in a position or role in traditional churches or missions, this book will probably be rather disturbing to you – or will open a surprising trap door to a Christianity you never believed existed. And if you are a house church enthusiast who relishes total independence, rejects each and any authority, and have become a holy island, a self-centered religious freak, this book might invite you to an apostolic dimension of organic Christianity that you both wanted and feared: wanted because small little bless-me-clubs can become rather boring, ingrown, and insignificant after some time; and feared, because this means change, huge change. But most of all, this book is written for all those followers of Christ who feel in between worlds; a bit like Columbus on his first journey to discover “India” after the point of no return, that particular spot in a journey where returning back is not an option any more. The resources have run dry, and your only hope is that there is land ahead before all hope dies. For all those, I have good news, too. As CAWKI has faded into the distance long ago, there is a rumor that a new land has been spotted: CAGWI – Church as God Wants It. And that God lives there. Wolfgang Simson October 2006